toby marks (the man
behind banco de gaia) has been on the electronic scene for quite awhile, and
like many others he has yet to receive the attention he deserves. through the
years, he's still managed to build up a sizeable fan base, though, through his
very consistently strong releases and live shows. He even has a nicely designed
website at which you can write the artist himself.

the music on this album
picks up where his last one left off. there are seven tracks on the disc, and
brevity isn't a factor as usual as they sprawl out to almost 70 minutes worth of
music (including one track that is less that 1 minute). while it's repetitive at
some points, the slowly building and winding down of the tracks fits in
perfectly with the music style of banco de gaia. ranging from ambient to
straight-up techno, the songs are spacious and emit less of a cold feeling than
most electronic music. this is mostly because of the great use of organic sounds
in construction. as one might guess, the backbone of the song drippy, is
formed around the sound of water dripping and other tracks capture this sound as
well. whether you describe it as "ethno-techno" (for use of chants and
other tribal beats in the songs) or simply a more organic form of electronic
music, it definitely gives it a different feel. it's smooth, and although it
doesn't rock a hard beat, it's well-constructed nonetheless and very good to
listen to.

rating: 7.25

credits

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original article is here.